Een kast vol passie voor Florence van Haastrecht van BeeGrateful

A cabinet full of passion for Florence from Haastrecht by BeeGrateful

A cabinet for your collection of books, kitchenware, model trains, hobby materials: at Lundia, we encounter the most wonderful questions, often born from a passion. That's what energizes us! That's why, under the banner of "a cabinet full of passion," we visit people who passionately share what drives them.

The most beautiful conversations often arise spontaneously. For example, on the terrace of Cape Horn on Terschelling, where we often settle down. This time René started talking with Florence van Haastrecht, co-founder of BeeGrateful. Her mission: Reliably increasing biodiversity by creating pollinator-friendly environments. That called for a closer acquaintance.

A special mission

A few weeks later we visit Florence and her partner Zoe in the creative breeding ground ‘De Ceuvel’ in Amsterdam North. From here, the two young entrepreneurs shape their mission. Florence explains how BeeGrateful works on pollinator-friendly environments with a ‘Buzzing approach’: “First of all, we offer nesting places for pollinators. We do this with our Streetlight Bee&Bee, a bee hotel that fits around a (lamp) post. Together with Wageningen University, we also conduct research at The Green Village (at TU Delft) on the impact of the Streetlight Bee&Bee. In addition, we ensure enough suitable food sources by sowing native plants. And finally, we work on raising awareness about the importance of pollinators. For example, with workshops and lectures, in which we tell interactively about the contribution of the wild bee to biodiversity.”

Houten bijenhotel naast bekroonde oorkonde met gele lijst op nat houten terraspad in bosrijke omgeving

From fellow students to companions

Florence and Zoe both studied at Wageningen University. Where their friendship began, their passion for social entrepreneurship also arose. They joined Enactus, a platform for students interested in sustainable entrepreneurship. "That's where we discovered how to start your own business," Florence explains. "We were tasked with solving a social problem. The idea to help endangered wild bees under the name BeeGrateful already existed, but it wasn't concrete yet. So, we developed Streetlight Bee&Bee with other students." The primarily international students with whom Florence and Zoe collaborated eventually went their separate ways. Zoe: "But we believed in the idea and wanted to pursue it together. That was over a year ago now, and we still do everything together, including marketing and acquisition."

Making an impact

55% of wild bees are threatened with extinction. With their products and services, the entrepreneurs at BeeGrateful want to convey the importance of these pollinators and thus make an impact. They also make a positive social impact. "For example, the smaller version of our Streetlight Bee&Bee – the Mini Bee&Bee – is made in a sheltered workshop. Because as a social enterprise, we want to contribute to society as well as increase biodiversity."

BeeGrateful's commitment to a brighter future is clear. Florence explains: "We continue to innovate in nature-inclusive products. We also want to green business parks and raise awareness. We really enjoy raising awareness of the problem and the importance of pollinators. We're also receiving a lot of positive feedback on our presentations, so we'll definitely continue with that. We also want to deepen our approach and explore how we can best support wild bees and other pollinators. We plan to do this by developing our own measurement method, using our bee hotel as an indicator for measuring local biodiversity. So, there's still plenty of work to be done, but we're excited!"

Lundia original design yourself

With the cabinet configurator you can easily design your ideal cabinet! Choose color, size and style so that the cabinet is perfectly tailored to your wishes and living space.

Design yourself